Elon, N.C.- The Elon Phoenix will hit the road and stop at Boshamer Stadium to take on the 15^th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels on Tuesday at 4 P.M. The matchup with North Carolina comes on the back of a home series with Navy which saw the Phoenix put up 30 runs and 42 hits against the Midshipmen.
 
On Tuesday, the Phoenix and Tar Heels meet for the 50^th time in the series history with Elon looking for their fifth win all-time against a ranked North Carolina team. Dating back to last season, Elon has won two of their last three games against ranked, ACC opponents.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW

• This Tuesday’s game will be aired on ACC Network Extra, which can be viewed behind a paid subscription.
• Live stats for the game will be available for the game. Live stats can be reached by CLICKING HERE.
• Follow live updates on the Elon Baseball X account @ElonBaseball.

 
THE ALL-TIME SERIES

• Elon trails the all-time series with the North Carolina, 9-40.
• The schools met for the first time back on March 26, 1909, in a game that resulted in a 6-5 UNC victory.
• Elon has faced off with North Carolina 24 times when North Carolina has been ranked.
• The Phoenix have defeated a ranked North Carolina team with the last victory over the Tar Heels coming on April 6, 2010. The Phoenix beat the Tar Heels 4-2 off the back of a strong pitching effort from Ken Ferrer. Neal Pritchard and Matt Hinson both finished the day two-for-four with an RBI.

 
SCOUTING NORTH CAROLINA

• North Carolina enters this matchup with the Phoenix ranked 15^th in the latest D1Baseball poll.
• The Tar Heels finished their first weekend series with a convincing sweep over the Wagner Seahawks, which including three convincing victories where the Tar Heels scored an average of over 15 runs per game.
• Head Coach Scott Forbes enters his fourth season in charge of the Diamond Heels and has secured 109 wins so far.
• UNC opened the season with high expectations despite the loss of Mac Horvath who was taken in the second round of last summer’s MLB draft.
• The Tar Heels welcome in transfers that have been familiar with the maroon & gold. Anthony Donofrio is a graduate transfer from Quinnipiac who saw action at Latham Park a season ago in a three-game sweep by the Phoenix.
• Elon will see two familiar faces with Parker Haskin and pitcher Shea Sprague seeing the Phoenix for the first time since entering the transfer portal.
• Top prospect Vance Honeycutt is a top target on MLB draft boards and has the unique combination of speed and power in the lineup.
• Alberto Osuna currently leads the team in home runs and RBIs with two and seven respectively. Colby Wilkerson finished the series with Wagner batting .600 (six-for-ten) with a double and four RBIs.
• The Tar Heels were selected as second in the ACC’s coastal division finishing two points behind coastal favorite Virginia.
• Vance Honeycutt was selected to the D1 Baseball Preseason All-America 3^rd Team.

 
ELON IN THE RANKINGS

• Elon finished the weekend series with Navy as one of the hottest hitting teams in the country. Elon ranks in the top 20 in numerous offensive categories both team and individually.
• Charlie Granatell earned Elon their first in-season award, being named the first CAA Player of the Week of the 2024 season.
• As a team, the Phoenix rank in the top 16 in both doubles (16^th) and doubles per game (13^th). Elon ranks 15^th in the nation in hits, while ranking 28^th in team batting average. Elon enters the game with UNC as the 43^rd best scoring team in the nation at 10 runs per game.
• Entering the matchup with Carolina, Charlie Granatell enters the game third in the nation in hits with 10. Charlie Granatell and Ryan Sprock both rank 12^th in the nation in doubles with three apiece. Granatell also ranks tenth in the nation in batting average at .667. Charlie Granatell is also top 16 in the nation in runs scored (16^th) and runs per game (14^th).
• Elon’s Justin Mitrovich ranks 70^th in the nation in WHIP with a 0.43.

                                                                                    
                                                        
ELON WELCOMES IMPACT TRANSFERS

• Head coach Mike Kennedy and the Elon baseball program have announced the arrival of eight transfers to booster the 2024 Elon baseball roster.
• The eight transfers coming into the program include four pitchers, one catcher, two outfielders and one two-way player. Two of the incoming players hail from North Carolina “Big Four” schools, Duke and UNC. Two players join the Phoenix following stints at the JUCO level and one joins from Division III.
• A pair of players will join Elon following break out seasons and careers in the CAA. Tank Yaghoubi will join the Phoenix after a standout freshman season at William & Mary while Shane Paradine joins the program following four years at Stony Brook. 

ELON IN THE PROS                                

• Elon has seen a number of players be called up to the Big Leagues within the past two seasons, including a pair of teammates from the 2019 CAA Regular Season Championship team. George Kirby and Ty Adcock currently both representing the Seattle Mariners.
• Kirby became Elon’s first baseball player to represent his club at the MLB All-Star game since Tom Brewer was selected during the 1956 season. Kirby was dominate for Seattle during the 2023 season, finishing with 13 wins for the Mariners.
• The Rye, N.Y. native finished the season with the 13th lowest ERA in the majors at just 3.35, finished third in the MLB in WHIP at 1.04. Kirby has become known for his ability to not walk batters with a walks per nine inning rate of just 0.9. This lead the majors and was the lowest walks per nine in the major leagues since Clayton Kershaw finished the season with a 0.8 rate in 2016.
• The Phoenix also features two relievers in the Bigs with John Brebbia and Ty Adcock. Adcock made his debut for the Mariners on June 12, 2023, and made nine appearances out of the bullpen before allowing a run.
• Brebbia has been the majors for six seasons after making his debut with St.Louis in 2017. Brebbia lead the majors in appearances during the 2022 season with 76 appearances featuring 11 starts for the San Francisco Giants.

 

JUSTIN MITROVICH CLIMBS THE HILL       

• Starter Justin Mitrovich returns to the Phoenix following an outstanding freshman campaign in the maroon & gold.
• Mitrovich started the 2024 season on a very high note. Against Navy, the right-hander matched career highs in innings and strikeouts, fanning nine batters in seven innings of work. He earned his first win of the campaign, leading Elon to a 10-2 victory over the Midshipmen.
• During his freshman campaign, Mitrovich finished with a record of 7-4 in 14 starts and an ERA of 3.68. He finished in the top-10 among CAA pitchers in nine different categories and finished in the top-five in wins, runs allowed, earned runs allowed, and home runs allowed. The freshman finished with 66 strikeouts, ranked second among freshman in the league. His seven wins were tied for third in the CAA.
• Mitrovich was one of three CAA freshman to make both D1 Baseball and Baseball America lists. The Yardley, P.A. native was joined by Northeastern freshmen Aiven Cabral and Cam Maldonado as CAA first years to be mentioned to both teams. The right-hander joins Alex Iadisernia and Shea Sprague as freshman all-Americans. This marks three straight years where the Phoenix have had a freshman all-American.
• Mitrovich was named to the All-CAA Rookie Team in May, along with Ryan Sprock. The duo were the first pair of teammates to earn All-Rookie selections since George Kirby and Kyle Brnovich in 2017.
• The sophomore earned a Preseason All-CAA selection as a starter for the 2024 season. This marks the seventh consecutive season that the Phoenix have produced a preseason All-CAA starting pitcher.

BRINGING THE LUMBER

• The Phoenix enters the matchup with UNC having won 27 of their last 29 games when outhitting their opponents.
• Against Navy, the Elon bats caught fire all three days with the 42 hits being the most to open a season since 2015.
• Elon’s 30 runs are the most in an opening series since the Phoenix hung 34 runs on Penn State to open the 2015 campaign.
• Elon finished fourth in the CAA in home runs and finished last season with 85 doubles.
• Elon brings back Ryan Sprock and Charlie Granatell who finished in the top 5 on the team in qualified batting average a season ago.
• Connor Offshack returns for the Phoenix following a .310 batting average season a year ago. Offshack made 27 starts and finished the season with 11 extra-base hits and 17 RBI.

 

KENNEDY EYES HISTORY                

• Elon’s head coach is just 13 wins away from his 850th win as the skipper of the Elon baseball program. If Coach Mike Kennedy surpasses 860 wins this season, he will enter a pantheonic list of coaches and enter the list of the top 100 winningest coaches in the history of Division I college baseball.
• The program’s all-time winningest coach, he currently owns an all-time record of 837-655-3 (.561). The skipper is in his 28th season with the maroon and gold. The skipper has managed 1,495 games with the Phoenix, making him the longest tenured and winningest coach in Elon athletics.

 
PHOENIX SELECTS TEAM CAPTAINS FOR 2024  

• Connor Offshack and Liam Dabagian were selected as team captains for the 2024 season, voted by their teammates.
• “We are excited to name both Liam Dabagian and Connor Offshack our team captains for the 2024 season. These two have been selected by their teammates and I believe that shows how they are respected in the clubhouse. They both have strong character and represent Elon baseball very well on and off the field. “

 
UP NEXT

• Elon will return to Latham Park for a three-game, weekend series with NJIT. First pitch for Friday’s game is scheduled for 4 P.M.